


Antlers

by Acaeria



Series: Lola's Guide to the World [2]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Transcendence, Gen, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-26 13:31:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5006590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acaeria/pseuds/Acaeria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lola walks into her Supernatural Studies class and knows who she wants to sit next to the moment she sees them.</p><p>Sequel to 'Epicentre'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Antlers

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I wasn't planning to continue Lola's story at all, and not only have I done that, but I'm also considering writing more. This was inspired by a post on the TAU blog, in which several of the mods were discussing R!Henry and his so done friend with the Sight. This is what came out of it; enjoy.

Lola walked into her Supernatural Studies class for the first time and knew immediately who she wanted to sit next to.

They sat at the back of the room, beside the window, an empty chair beside them. Their small pencil case was shoved to the side of the desk, and their eyes were glued to the image of outside. Their hair was long and brown, tied up into a ponytail, and they wore plaid. Really, there was nothing unusual about them.

Unless you had the Sight.

Because, rising from their head, were two large antlers, adorned with hands and fruit. Like, actual severed hands and almost-ripe fruit.

Grinning like a loon, Lola made her way to the back of the room and plonked herself down in the chair beside them. They looked up in surprise, revealing bright green eyes.

“Lola,” Lola introduced herself. “She, her, nice to meet you!” They gave a nervous smile.

“Uh, Tri. They or he… Nice to meet you too.”

Lola nodded, sending him a comforting grin as she got out her own stuff, pushing it in front of her and looking expectantly around the room. About a quarter of the seats were taken, the rest left empty. The teacher was sat in front of the room, their name projected on the wall: _Mr Prod, he/him/his_. He was dressed in a stuffy tweed suit that was so three hundred years ago, and had messy dark hair that looked as if he had just gotten out of bed.

He glanced up from his screen and caught her eye and gave her a smile, and Lola got the impression she was going to like him.

When the last member of class had entered, Mr Prod stood and made his way to the front of the room, shutting the door and turning toward them, clapping his hands to grab their attention. “Welcome to your first year of A-Level Supernatural Studies. As those of you who can read can see, my name is Mr Prod, and I’ll be your teacher for the next two years. Now, let’s get started, shall we?”

He clapped his hands several more times, turning his hands into different positions and occasionally slapping his elbows. As soon as the routine was done, the lights dimmed, and the projection on the wall moved forward, hovering to the side of him and changing to show a very familiar symbol.

“Now,” he said, “Does anyone know what this is?” The room was silent. In the front, a small blonde girl raised her hand. Mr Prod gestured at her expectantly.

“It’s the symbol of Alcor the Dreambender,” she said quietly. Mr Prod nodded.

“That is _exactly_ what it is. Do you have any idea why I showed you this? This isn’t a demonology class, after all. Anyone?” The class was silent. After glancing around for a while, the teacher sighed. “I’ll tell you why. The first signs of Alcor appeared after the Transcendence. Now, so did most of the supernatural, but there is definite historical evidence that show of most supernatural species and entities being around before it. Alcor is the most well-known being to emerge during the Transcendence; many demonologists and historians actually speculate the Transcendence was in fact his doing, or that the energy released from it caused his birth; nobody quite knows for sure. But, he is pivotal in understanding the changing attitudes toward the supernatural in the wake of the Transcendence. And so, class, our first unit this year is going to be the emergence of the supernatural into the wider world: the Transcendence.”

His hands tapped out another complicated routine, and the lights came back on, the projection vanishing altogether.

“Now, can anyone tell me what year the Transcendence happened?” he asked. Several people put their hands up; Lola raised her own. Mr Prod gestured to her.

“2012 AD,” Lola said, “0 AT.” The teacher nodded.

“That’s entirely correct. Nobody knows why it happened then, though there are theories; however, one thing we were able to pin down was the epicentre of the Transcendence, Gravity Falls, Oregon, USA. The supernatural was common around there even before the Transcendence, and we’ll start off our topic by studying the historic supernatural species around there.”

Lola raised her hand again, and Mr Prod gestured for her to talk. “I spent my summer in Gravity Falls,” she told him, which caused several members of the class to turn back to look at her.

“Really?” he asked. “Did you see much of the supernatural?” Lola nodded.

“Yeah, they say it’s like another world, but it doesn’t quite hit you until you’re walking through town and you see the blend of supernatural and natural that’s there. It was really eye-opening.”

“Fascinating. What’s your name?”

“Lola,” Lola told him, “Lola Jones.”

“Well, Lola, if you feel anything you learned whilst in Gravity Falls relates to what we’re studying, feel free to share it. Now, onto the lesson…”

* * *

The end of the lesson brought Lola a free period that she spent in the common room, and she was pleased to see that Tri was there too. She sat herself across the table from him, pulling out her Creative Writing homework she’d received the day before. Tri glanced up at her, wide-eyed.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” she asked, and he shook his head.

“No,” he said softly, looking back down at his own work. Lola glanced at it curiously.

“What’re you taking?” she asked curiously. He glanced back up at her.

“Um, supernatural studies, demonology, sociology and psych.”

“Cool! What’re you planning on doing?”

“This probably sounds really weird, but I was thinking becoming a Supernatural Psychologist? Like-”

“Whoa, you came up with your own field of work? Dude, that’s so cool!”

“What about you?” he asked.

“Oh, I’m studying supernatural studies, basic magic, further magic, and then creative writing. I’ll probably move out to America and work with my sister, Char- she’s a supernatural researcher and demonologist.”

“She lives in Gravity Falls?”

“Yup! I met the Pines family, it was so cool! And I poked around the library there- Gabe, the owner, he let me take one home.”

“Don’t the Pines family have a relation to Alcor and the Transcendence? I mean, most of the information is muddled with the mythos and it’s hard to tell fiction from reality at this point, but-”

“Yeah, they do! I’m not entirely sure what, but I know they’re on friendly terms with Alcor.” Tri shuddered.

“That’s just creepy, I mean, how do you know he won’t turn on you?” Lola shrugged.

“You just gotta trust that his centuries-old bond with your family holds through, I don’t know. So, what’re you working on?”

“Demonology notes, stuff about the most famous demons and stuff. We’re gonna study the Alcoran myth cycle I think, so that’ll be fun.”

“Well, if you ever need an expert's insight, just grab me, and I’ll call Char. She’d be happy to spill her guts on the subject.” He smiled.

“Hey, thanks.”

“No problem. So… what’s with the antlers?”

He jumped, dropping his pen onto the paper, staring at her wide-eyed. “You have the Sight?” he asked her, his voice barely louder than a whisper. Lowering her volume to match, Lola nodded and said,

“Yep. So?”

“Uh, well… We’re not entirely sure. Mum says there’s probably some dryad blood in her somewhere, Dad thinks it’s a preincarnation thing. I’m not entirely sure.”

“Well, they’re pretty cool. If gruesome. Hey, do you have like, actual antlers? Is that why you’re wearing that hat?” He reached up, pulling his beanie further down over his ears, and nodded.

“Yeah. It’s better than answering all the questions. And you’re not freaked out by them?”

“Nope,” Lola said with a shake of her head. “Dude, I spent my summer in Gravity Falls, and even before that, I’ve always been obsessed with the supernatural and weirdness in the world. Plus, I’m not really one to judge.” His face creased in confusion.

“What do you mean?” he asked, but Lola only have a secretive smile and placed a finger to her lips.

“I’ll show you one day,” she said cryptically. The two of them stared at each other for several, silence-filled minutes, before bursting into peals of nonsensical laughter.

* * *

The year wore on.

Lola soon became used to her classes, but never quite to the workload, and so she often found herself studying with Tri or her other friends- Dayle and Lauria and Jon. Due to having to stay late at school to finish work, and going in early to get stuff done before class started, it meant that she hardly saw her mother during the week, nor did she get to call Char or visit her father’s grave.

She found herself enjoying Supernatural Studies the most out of all her classes, which may have had something to do with Mr Prod; he was a great teacher, and his classes were always entertaining, even if they were to do with subjects as dull as the formation of gnome colonies in the middle ages.

She also discovered the hassle of sitting beside a person with gigantic antlers sticking from their head. In fact, often Mr Prod would look over at them with raised eyebrows and ask them exactly what the problem was; and of course, neither of them could admit that there was a hand on Lola’s head or an antler up her nose.

Alcor showed up often on weekends, or even during school. He’d sit or walk alongside Lola, giving her updates from Gravity Falls and asking her about her day. If she wasn’t alone, Lola tended to write him a message rather than speaking out loud, which got her a lot of awkward questions when Lauria picked up the page she was using to write them on.

Lola had also read _WILLOW’S GUIDE TO ~~LIFE THE SUPERNATURAL~~ BEING WILLOW PINES_ about fifteen times. It never failed to make her smile as she read the writing of her past incarnation, detailing her life with a cult-bashing mother, awkward father, two siblings and a demon uncle.

By now, she had favourite entries and passages. She flicked through, fingers brushing against the old yellowed pages.

_September 4th_

_Hank swallowed a pixie today. Acacia laughed at him all the way home; he went all pink in the face and started coughing up sparkles. Dad freaked out, but Mom was pretty chill about it, and Uncle Dipper soon fixed the problem. Hank’s been complaining ever since that everything tastes like strawberries and he’s never going to get the taste out of his mouth. His aura has been a bit pink around the edges ever since then, actually._

__

_September 8th_

_I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up I messed up_

__

_September 12th_

_I’m really not okay right now but I need to get this off my chest because I don’t know where else to let all this out and apparently it’s not healthy to bottle things up. Especially when your emotions can literally kill people._

_Okay, so I was kidnapped, I guess. By Cultists. By someone I trusted. But that usually happens, doesn’t it? I trust someone and they betray me. Like Ms Lily. I just end up almost getting killed._

_Anyway! I was kidnapped by this cult. And they tried to exorcise me. They tried to DROWN me. And everything hurt and I thought that I was going to die._

_Then Dad and Uncle Dipper arrived._

_Except Dad made a deal with Uncle Dipper to borrow his power. It was terrible; he went dead pale, like his face was made of bone, and his skull twisted as antlers shot from his head, bearing severed hands and fruit like some sort of nightmarish tree. He slaughtered them all with a bone axe sprung from his hand, burning with blue flame._

_I swear, in that moment, my heart stopped and I couldn’t breathe._

_Then it was over, and he was just… stood there. Drenched in blood. So I called out to him and he turned around and he was normal. Normal-ish. Because the antlers were still there._

_They’re still there now and I feel awful because he’s haunted by them, he hates them as much as I do and it’s all my fault that he’s stuck with them._

_But I can’t tell anyone because they’ll just tell me it’s not my fault and there’s nothing we can do but stop worrying. And I can’t deal with that._

_I haven’t left my room in days and I keep having nightmares and I’m so scared. What do I even do now? I don’t know anymore. People just keep on getting hurt because of me. I’m supposed to be able to protect myself now, but I couldn’t do a thing._

_Sometimes I just wish I could be stronger, you know?_

__

Lola froze, feeling cold, her fingers resting on a dried tear-stain on the page.

She got out her phone and sent Tri a text: _I know why you have antlers. Tell tomorrow_.

She received one back: _???_ but didn’t reply, instead powering off her phone and going to lie down, reading more of the journal.

It was a full month before Willow wrote again, talking about training with her Uncle Dipper. There was barely a mention of the incident again, except for odd references to “Dad’s antlers” or “the woodsman”.

She felt sick and slowly closed the book.

* * *

“That’s mad,” Jon said as Lola pushed the book to the centre of the table. “There’s no way that’s true.” Lola shrugged.

“Well, it is! Tri has antlers because in a past life he made a deal with Alcor in order to save one of my past lives.”

“It’s still mad,” Jon told her with a shake of his head. Tri just stared blankly at the open page, eyes skimming over the words.

“You okay?” Lola asked him, and he glanced up at her in surprise before nodding.

“Yeah, it’s just… weird. You know?” Lola nodded.

“Yeah.” She reached forward and pulled the book back toward her, slamming it shut and pushing it back into her bag. “Don’t worry about it too much, ‘kay? We’re different people now and it doesn’t matter. Plus your antlers are cool.” He grinned.

“Yeah, okay.” The bell went, and he got to his feet. “Supernatural Studies, you coming?”

“You bet.”

* * *

Willow’s journal ended on her eighteenth birthday, when she wrote about the celebration they had, and how she was looking forward to the future. After closing it again for what seemed like the thousandth time, Lola had an idea, and left the house immediately.

She returned with a fat, old-fashioned journal like the one Willow had written in, and wrote, in large, slanted handwriting on the first page:

_LOLA’S GUIDE TO THE WORLD._

****  
  



End file.
